


Scion of the Gods

by nerdy_go



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Brotp, Demigod AU, F/F, Heroes of Olympus AU, Kara Danvers & Winn Schott Jr. Friendship, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:16:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9887840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdy_go/pseuds/nerdy_go
Summary: (Concept: Heroes of Olympus AU. Kara as Jason Grace, Lena as Piper McLean, and Winn as Leo Valdez. With major departures from both canon.)Kara Zor-El Danvers — Daughter of Jupiter — was only a few months into praetorship alongside her adoptive sister Alex when Hera had chosen her for a special mission.The goddess wiped her memory, giving her a false life in which Winn Schott and Lena Luthor — two greek demigods she had never met before — are her best friend and girlfriend.Although she was relieved when the magic lifted, remembering Alex, Camp Jupiter, and the rest of her life before she woke up on that bus to the Grand Canyon… part of her was also heartbroken. Making a friend out of Winn was easy, but genuinely winning Lena’s heart? Complicated. Messy. Awkward.She hadn’t spoken to Lena in two years. But here she was… On her way back to Camp Half-Blood. Determined this time to get to know the real Lena Luthor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I've been wanting to write a Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus AU for these guys for a while. Finally got it started. This chapter is mainly getting into Kara's headspace, and I hope it wasn't too confusing? I tried to get it to flow naturally, but let me know if it didn't! Thanks!
> 
> EDIT: I accidentally double-posted because I thought the first attempts failed (sorry, sorry, my bad. still new to uploading on this site). It's been deleted now. (Me: /is embarrassed //still learning).

_Two years ago_ — ironically, she remembers every detail now…

Kara woke up on a bus as it barrelled down a long stretch of road in the middle of the night. To her left was a boy who wore a loosened bowtie around his neck, and was muttering computer code under his breath as he snored lightly into Kara’s shoulder. To right was another girl who was without a doubt the prettiest girl Kara had ever seen in her life. She was also asleep, slumping with her back to the window. Her face was so serene, like it was made of moonlight itself. Light, mysterious, sublime.

This was an awkward moment for a long list of reasons that was growing exponentially in Kara’s mind.

To begin with, the boy had his head wedged in such a way with hers that they couldn’t have just lolled together by accident, and in addition to his odd mutterings, he was beginning to drool (That was the least of her problems, though). 

The drooling — _kind of gross_ — wasn’t nearly as pressing a matter as the sudden wave of heart-thumping panic that overcame Kara when she registered that the warm feeling wrapped around her hand at the moment was in fact _the other girl’s hand_ (the other girl, who was the prettiest girl Kara had ever seen in her life) _._ Their fingers were laced together. That couldn’t have been by accident either. 

Kara tried to remove hers when the other’s squeezed in a gentle but adamant way. The noise from her pouty lips — coated in a shiny pink gloss — sent a shiver down Kara’s spine. (Who wears lipgloss to sleep? How was that… necessary?)

She was ready to pinch herself to see if this was a dream, but she felt suddenly paralyzed meeting the most strikingly beautiful green eyes (of _the prettiest girl she had ever seen in her life_ , if that memo weren’t yet clear). 

That moment, begrudgingly, sets butterflies in Kara’s stomach to this day. The moment that, unbeknownst to the both of them, Lena first set eyes on her.

“What’s wrong?” the girl asked Kara in a groggy, sleep-crackled voice. “Are you alright, bae?”

Kara could only look at her with confusion. She felt her mouth pinch to the side, trying to keep from saying something before she had a minute to think.

_Is she talking to me?_

She brought her other hand up to her face, and adjusted her glasses, trying to find the words to ask… 

What was going on? 

Where was she? 

_Who_ was she? 

(The girl or herself, either would be news to her… Even Bowtie Code Boy was a mystery.)

Her movements stirred him. He looked around just as lost as Kara.

“Are we there yet?” he asked no one in particular, but turned to the Kara and the girl like they should know. Like Kara should know who he was, of course.

But Kara didn’t. She didn’t know anything. She’d woken up with a white haze in her mind, and she began shaking her head as if to clear it. 

Nothing… Nothing was making sense.

“Not yet!” a gruff voice from the front of the bus called back. It was a man driving the bus. He kept his eyes on the long stretch of road ahead, but spared them all a glance in the mirror fixed above the windshield. 

“Still a bit to go, Mr. Schott,” he said with a neutral smile.

Around Kara and her seatmates, there were at least a dozen other kids, also sleeping. It was probably early in the morning, the sky outside the windows was a dark purple, and Kara realized the air was chilly. 

She herself hadn’t felt the cold, but the other girl clearly did when she visibly shivered, moved closer to Kara, and wrapped her arms around her middle as if it were the most natural movement in the world. 

Not knowing what to do with her own arm, Kara kept it hovering in the air above the girl’s back. With her face so close to Kara’s chest, Kara wondered if the girl could hear her erratic heartbeat.

That’s when she — with an even bigger start, if that were possible — realized she could hear the girl’s heartbeat. And the boy’s. Everyone in this bus’s heartbeats were an alarming cacophony. She swore she didn’t notice it a second ago, but she could hear all the snores of the sleeping students, and the tranquil jazzy tune the driver hummed under his breath. It all together was driving her insane. Kara took a deep breath, feeling like her head was going to explode.

The arms around her tightened.

Kara heard a soft voice mumble _so warm._

The pretty girl with her arms around Kara had called her warm with such unbridled tenderness that it brought a red blush to her face immediately. By a miracle, it came above all the noise even though it must have been as gentle as a whisper, and that was enough to get her to stop thinking about all the new sounds bombarding her. 

It calmed her. Grounded her. Kara could still hear everything, but they were a faint, faraway murmur. Except for the girl’s heartbeat. That she heard loud and clear.

( _Thump. Thump. Thump —_ Kara wasn’t keeping time, but the rhythm kept her steady.)

“Always perfect for cuddling, bae,” the girl sighed.

“ _Uh- uhm_ …” Kara sputtered uselessly.

She sheepishly glanced at the boy to her left (Schott, as the bus driver had referred to him), who was shuffling into a more comfortable position that didn’t involve being so close to Kara, even though he didn’t seem to mind a moment before. The still damp spot on Kara’s sweater was evidence. 

He noticed her glance, and just gave a snorting sort of noise grumbling, “Hey, I know I said you guys gotta cut the PDA crap, but really it’s fine, Kar. You’re allowed to be all gross and coupley with your girlfriend sometimes. I get it. Don’t worry.”

“G-girlfriend?!” Kara squeaked, all wide eyes-and open-jawed. Schott gave her a weird look. Confused, but not quite as badly as Kara.

“Yeah? Unless you broke up with her somewhere on the last leg of Arizona,” his tone was light and teasing, but also tired. He rubbed his eyes, and Kara figured he could fall back to sleep at any moment. But Kara sure couldn’t, especially not after that suggestion.

“I should hope not,” the girl (who was apparently her girlfriend) teased like she was about to laugh, and Kara felt a tug in her stomach like she was aware in every part of her physical being that she wanted to coax that laugh out from her. That beautiful laugh.

A thought stirred in the back of her mind. A memory, actually. A memory of Lena laughing. Her green eyes crinkling, her smiling widening only for her to catch her lip in her teeth in the way Kara _knew_ she did when she was nervous. There were parts of her Lena, deep down, that were still shy, and there it was staring at her in wonder.

Kara had tipped her head. She took in every detail of Lena’s face, peering over the rim of her glasses. Lena hesitantly pulled them off, evidently with the same intention to memorize everything in front of her. 

It was Lena who made the first moved. She stepped closer. Leaned in. She wanted to show that _this is what she wanted_ without saying a word to break the building tension. It was still her who moved last, to seal the final inch of the gap when Kara was taking too damn long for her liking. She didn’t want hesitation, misunderstanding, and least of all regret. If she didn’t kiss Kara then — at this perfect moment — she didn’t know what she was going to do.

They kissed. Kara remembered them kissing. Remembered the impossible softness of Lena’s lips. The pink gloss tasted like strawberries. She loved it. They had been on the roof of their dormitory, below the stars.

_Lena_.

She could feel her eyes widening, seeing the prettiest girl she’d ever seen in her life as if in a whole new light. _Her girlfriend Lena._

That had been their first kiss. Kara had just finished telling a story about the constellation. Before that, they were cuddling in a study pile cramming for their A.P. Literature exam with Schott ( _Winn_ Schott) and Siobhan. The other two had fallen asleep, as had Kara’s leg underneath Winn. Lena stood up and stretched, mentioning something about needing fresh air. Kara thought that was a good idea.

Lena was heading for the back door of the commons when Kara had grabbed her hand and showed her to the roof instead. 

And they kissed for the first time. After nearly three months of dancing around the blatant attraction between the two of them. The frustration of the two of them always wanting _more._ Never making it more. The kiss that truly started it all, them being together. That was three months prior.

Kara remembered.

Lena touched Kara’s face, bringing her out of her head and back to the bus on the way to the Grand Canyon for their end-of-the-year field trip. She pulled away from her embrace to look at her with concern. Ran her thumb across Kara’s cheek.

“Bae? Everything okay?” Lena whispered gently.

Lena started calling her bae after a boatload of teasing on Winn’s part.

(Go ask your _bae…_ Your _bae_ just won’t shut up about you… Look! The les- _bae_ -ns!)

Lena started out ironically, but it grew on them. Kara realized it when Lena had brought her a bottle of water after soccer practice. The whole team had already hit the showers. Winn in particular was nowhere to be found, not a big fan of sports in general. There was no one around to reclaim the teasing word for. And yet, Lena still used it. 

“Good hustle, bae,” Lena pressed a kiss into Kara’s red, sweaty cheek (and Kara would later joke with Winn _that’s how you know it’s real_ … the poor pathetic love-sick fool). 

It became Lena’s go-to endearment. (Winn let it go because they had gross-ified it with their cutesy coupliness.)

Gross, cutesy, _lovesick_ were all great words to describe Lena’s tone.

“I think so,” Kara answered. She did think she was okay, aside from the vague haze that still surrounded everything she just remembered. Something just _wasn’t right_ , but Kara didn’t know what to say about it.

She took Lena’s hand away from her face so she could hold it again. Re-laced their fingers. Lena smiled at the gesture.

_This_ felt right.

Even the press of Winn falling into her side, fast asleep again, felt right in a… different way. But still definitely familiar. Comforting.

Kara—two years after the Grand Canyon field trip, nearly to the day—thinks of this moment as _denial_. With everything she knows now, about Gaea’s plot to destroy the world, and Hera’s last-ditch effort to build bridges between the Roman and Greek camps, Kara knows that all those fake memories that rushed into her head then were just that— _fake_. 

But she wanted them to be real.

Kara _really_ wanted them to be real.

(She wanted to have kissed Lena under the stars, to have hollered _Victory!_ with Winn out her dormitory window when she had broke the news, for Lena to call her _bae_ again and cuddle her just to be close and warm…)

Sitting there in her dormitory—the one she actually lived in at Camp Jupiter, not the fake boarding school of Hera’s invention—Kara knew she was still hung up over a girl she shouldn’t be. Two years was a long time, considering they only _really_ knew each other for a week. 

-

Winn was Kara’s best friend in _The Lost Time_ (what they call the six months of Hera’s implanted memories), and by a miracle, he was her best friend now (right after Alex, but she was her _sister_ ). 

It was a rocky start when Kara had first left. Sure, they had crossed the country (twice), battled countless monsters alongside each other, freed a goddess, and rode on the back of an _dragon_ that they resurrected from the automaton graveyard. But then, what else did they have going? A headful of fake memories? (That were still haunting them both, she knew.)

She almost let him walk out of her life with nothing but an awkward hug. One of those half-hearted bro-hug, one that didn’t actually connect except for a clap on the back. A hug you’d give a stranger.

But Kara already knew what it was like to have Winslow Schott Jr. as a best friend. To cut their fake classes to watch movies together, and jump up and down together when they barely escaped the minotaur with their real lives. In all honesty, Kara wasn’t going to let him be too embarrassed to talk to her. 

(Lena’s smile might still be number one in Kara’s books, but there was also something endearingly charming about Winn’s impish smirk.)

“Winn!” she called. He’d just said good-bye and was heading back to his cabin. 

“Yeah?” he sounded surprised. When he turned, his face was pretty neutral, “You forget something?”

Kara stuck her pinky out. 

“Call me. Every Tuesday, right after Legends of Tomorrow…”

It was a hunch. In their fake memories, they had bonded over superhero shows and movies. They passed notes in fake class that were actually an ongoing back-and-forth of _the Flash could run circles around Captain America!_ / _yeah that’s all he can do, run fast :P ._ They watched every episode of Legends of Tomorrow as soon as it leaked online (because their fake dorms didn’t have cable). 

Even after their memories started coming back to them, Kara saw the lightning bolt keychain hanging on his tool-belt when he was fixing Festus up in the forge.

And the pinky thing…

During the summer of their fake sophomore year, Winn had told her about his mortal dad, and Kara had told him about her mom, and they cried together over a tub of ice cream they smuggled from the kitchens. They made a pinky promise then that they were best friends now, no going back. 

It was stupid, childish, vulnerable, completely ridiculous…

She took a leap of faith. 

And Kara saw the long second of hesitation. He, too, wasn’t sure how well he could trust himself — with his fake emotions getting in the way of the real fact that yeah, she’s saved his life multiple times and he mechanic-ed them out of a sticky situation in Canada… But they still had only just met last week. 

Finally, he laughed.

“Gotta save up some drachma for the pretty rainbow lady, then.”

He curled his pinky around hers, and they shook solemnly.

He called her every week since.

Sometimes, twice. Three times in one day even the weekend he got a date with Siobhan, who turns out was a very real girl in Winn’s very real school, and although Kara really never met Siobhan, she remembered _fake_ her’s love for Italian food, and techno music. Hera… was really thorough in her concocted memories.

(Although Siobhan and Winn were touch-and-go for a while when Winn kept bailing for demigod duties, they were still kind of a thing the last time Kara checked.)

Their weekly recap of _The Flash_ landed on the night before Kara’s trip to Camp Half-Blood.

Winn took the call from the forge, where the Hephaestus kids have a contraband magical television, and a fountain specially crafted to give the glassiest waterfall (the secret behind making the clearest calls. Kara had gone to her dorm in the Imperial Barracks after watching the episode in the commons. She had a modest fountain that got the job done, but she still knew that was a luxury. 

“ _Ugh_ — I can’t wait to see you!” Winn positively gushed. It had been ages since they hung out, “It’s going to be so much fun! I mean, I am so going to kick your ass at Capture the Flag this time.”

“Are not!” Kara was quick to argue, “Hello, Winn, is your fountain busted or something? Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“Hey Little Miss _oh my dad is the god of the gods,_ you can’t just lighting punch your way to the flag. It requires finesse, strategy, a flawless execution, precision—”

“Half those words mean the same thing, Winn!”

“Spell _precision_ , Kara!” 

“I’ll spell it in Latin, _Graecus_!”

Gaining Winn as a best friend was one of the best things that had ever happened to Kara. She couldn’t stay mad at Hera for what she did (though, she’d speculated several ways it could have worked out better _without_ anybody having to deal with real or not-real memories). 

She even found her long lost brother, Kal—er… Clark. He went by Clark these days (Their relationship was weird, but it was start to the 12 years they spent apart.)

There was a long silence on the line. Kara moved to the left and then to the right, almost swaying. Winn did the same. It was their way of keeping the comfortable silence without worrying the line had frozen (one time, Camp Half-Blood had a bad storm and the line _literally_ froze as Kara was talking to Winn).

“So how’s…” Kara hesitated, unsure. But she had to ask, had to know before she went back again, “H-How’s Lena?”

Winn’s smile was soft, kind. He understood, which was probably why his eyes were also sad.

“Oh, she’s been pretty busy. She’s the head of Cabin 10 now. Calling all the shot like a boss, keeping the kiddies from getting into trouble,” he explained. “You should have seen her nearly rip the head off a Hermes boy who tried to frame a baby camper. She was all crying because they were picking on her, and Lena just fucking—” 

He made hand gestures and a roaring sound. 

“Full-on mama bear kinda stuff. It was great!”

“That’s so cool,” Kara tried to keep her voice level, seem passively impressed rather than over-eager… Like she usually was. “Counselor, huh? That’s important.”

Winn made an airy noise with his lips.

“Kara, you’re still _Praetor_. That’s like the boss’ boss. Big boss. Compared to you, Lena’s like an assistant or something,” Winn said.

“Still. It’s pretty big honor for a Greek camper,” Kara said. “You know how we Romans are with honor…”

“You can tell me all about it when you get here! What time do you think that’ll be?” his excitement was coming back again, full force.

“Alex says with good weather, we should be there tomorrow evening. Save me a seat at dinner, okay?”

“For sure. I’ll warn the nymphs another Kryptonian’s coming to visit. Maybe not clean the magical stocks this time, huh?”

“Hey!” Kara gasped, affronted, “It’s not my fault!”

“I didn’t even know it was possible for them to run out of food, but between you and your brother…”

The topic of Lena didn’t come up again until much later, at an hour in which Kara’s eyes grew heavy, and Winn was already lying on his back ready to pass out on his cott.

“Did you want me to tell Lena you’re coming?”

Kara blinked heavily. She picked at the bedsheets around her. Wrapped herself in it, and tried to breathe evenly just thinking about meeting her again. 

“Do you think she’d want to see me? She’s never… around when I am.”

To be fair, she doesn’t seem to _hang around_ when Kara’s at Half-Blood. And the few times Kara manages to catch her, catch up to her, or specifically seeks her out— It isn’t met warmly. Lena’s never been mean to her, but it was a far cry from The Lost Time. 

Even on their mission to save Hera, Lena was at least friendly. The three of them, Kara, Winn, and Lena, had some quality bonding time over their trip. They had campfires, and exchanged real life stories whenever they resurfaced. 

Maybe she and Lena didn’t have a first kiss under the stars as girlfriends, but one night as Kara kept watch, Lena had stayed up to keep her company for a while. Kara told her a different story about the stars — a Roman one, about the Star of Rao. There wasn’t longing looks between them, Lena never moved forward to remove Kara’s glasses, and Kara certainly didn’t think about kissing her then. They were just quiet. Peaceful. Staring up at the stars together until Kara heard Lena’s breaths slow into soft and steady measures. 

Kara really thought, then, that they could be friends regardless of what happened (or didn’t happen but they thought happened? Memory games were tricky. They sucked). 

“To be honest,” Winn said, voice heavy with sleep. Drunk on exhaustion. Kara knew he’d been up for hours, probably tinkering away at the forge until crashing in front of the TV, and here he was pushing his limit.

“I think she’s still scared to trust you with, you know, The Lost Time and all. It’s just… hard to get past that.”

“I wish it could be easier, Winn. We’re best friends, why can’t Lena…” 

Why couldn’t Lena trust her? 

Why did Lena look like Kara had come to send her to Tartarus when Kara stopped by Cabin 10 to say hi? 

Why didn’t she wave back across the dining pavilion?

Why couldn’t Lena be her friend?

“Because we both know you don’t just wanna be friends with Lena. Not even _best_ friends. And Lena’s one of those daughters of love that has a tight hold on her heart,” Winn droned out rather astutely. 

Kara swallowed hard. Although Winn was her best friend, they didn’t usually speak candidly about all those things between her and Lena. But Kara was always bad at hiding things. Especially from Winn and Alex (who was arranging the whole Half-Blood excursion partly just to get Kara to stop pining after Lena and _do something to fix it_ ).

“She just doesn’t want to get her heart broken. For _reals_ this time.”

Kara didn’t want that. She didn’t want to break her own heart, either. Didn’t they owe it to each other to at least give it a chance? Kara knew that’s what _she_ wanted. She wanted a chance to be whatever Lena wanted her to be in her life (and if that meant just friends, or even best friends, Kara would take it… Kara would take anything to go back to the feelings she felt when she was with Lena — real and not real).

“Do you think I have a chance?” Kara asked.

“I think you need to talk to _Lena_ ,” Winn answered.

The image of her best friend was already starting to flicker out. Winn couldn’t see Kara flickering out because his eyes were already closed, probably dozed off already. It was time for them to get some rest, and Kara had to oblige as well.

Her mind was overfull, but she pressed it all down and prayed for a good night’s sleep to overcome her. Just because she could fly didn’t mean she’d like to knock out, and fall off a pegasus tomorrow. Alex would never let her live it down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been having trouble organizing how to tell the story, which is what took so long to update. I said there'd be fighting, but I had to cut and move it (hopefully?) to the next chapter. In doing that, though, we've made it to seeing Lena, if only briefly. But I got a bit of nonromantic relationship in, which I'm happy about. So here's chapter two, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Kara shot clear out of her bed – _thunk!_ – and her eyes flew open. She hit something. Something that began crumbling. Her focus darted left and right before she realized she was staring at her own room, if not just from a weird angle in the dark. She peeled her face away from the cool surface it stuck on, coming away with dry bits of it stuck to her skin. She was up close and personal with a marble pattern she was well familiar with as her ceiling. 

She pressed her hands against it, and pushed back, throwing her into her bunk like a lead weight.

It all happened so fast, like something straight out of a low-budget horror movie.

If Kara weren’t a Descendant of Rao, it might’ve hurt, but she was something akin to steel. It might’ve hurt as much as a mild pillow fight.

As if offended to being likened to a pillow, the ceiling began showering her with a snowfall of debris.

Kara squinted up and cringed at the damage. There were two palm-sized spiderwebbed cracks, and a dent suspiciously shaped like the crown of her head. Her sister, already known as the more responsible praetor, was going to let her have it over this (When was the next inspection? Kara didn’t even remember, but it was probably too early in the morning for that thought).

This was… a problem for after New York. 

The roof wasn’t _broken_ per se, just a bit banged up. It was like a fender-bender of property damage. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed later. With her and her sister gone, who was going to inspect the Imperial Barracks? (Maxwell Lord, probably, but he had better things to do that write her up while she was away… which was possibly more concerning, actually).

More important than any of that, to Kara, was the state _she_ was in.

Crashing into the ceiling didn’t faze her in the slightest. But her pajamas were damp with sweat, and her heart was pounding. Angry red crescent-shapes were pressed into her palms — from her nails digging into the skin — and she was still doing everything in her power to quell her innate demigod senses urging her to fight! Fight the invisible enemy! It took every ounce of her control to restrain herself from leaping out of bed to clobber the shadows on the wall.

She brought her hands to her face, holding her head. These were all signs of a bad nightmare. And it was bad.

She’d had them since she was four. She was used to explosions, and screaming (dare she say they were run-of-the-mill). That might concern a normal mortal, but she was more than just _physically_ made of stronger stuff. Kara was Kryptonian. Kara was strong in ways not many on Earth could understand.

And she was shaken. Whatever it was she dreamt about, it had to be a _horrible_ to rattle her this much. That and she _couldn’t remember a damn thing about it._  

“M-… My name is Kara Danvers…” she said into the quiet of the room. She looked around, saw the fountain where her best friend’s face reflected back at her just hours ago — according to the clock on the wall above the light switch. 

“My name is Kara Zor-El Danvers.”

She sounded a little more certain of herself, bolder.

“I am the Daughter of Jupiter. Legacy of Rao…”

She took long breaths, and her heart started to come down to a normal beat. The adrenaline was subsiding. 

“My sister is Alex. My brother is Clark. I’m at Camp Jupiter. It’s Tuesday—” she squinted at the clock again, “—It’s _Wednesday_.”

Her mouth was dry, but other than that, she felt fine. Normal. Maybe the nightmare was just a nightmare after all… even if that wasn’t always the case with demigods. Never the likeliest, by far. It could… happen. 

Kara had been more than a healthy bit paranoid ever since being dropped in the middle of nowhere with tampered memories. Whenever she started doubting even for a minute that something wasn’t right, she tried to think about where she was, how she got there, who was she. 

It sounds like a stupid thing until all those things get taken away from you.

 (Again. It feels like everything’s been taken away _again_.) 

Kara shook out dust from her blanket, and swept the top of her head. White puffs formed around her like clouds. She coughed. 

Deciding to get a drink of water from the commons, she pulled herself out of bed, and stood on her feet.

Nothing seemed out of place in the hallway. It was a peaceful night. She passed the first bedroom quietly, then the bathroom next. She clicked on the lights when she got to the main room at the end, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw a head pop out from over the arm of the couch.  

Kara actually yelped.

Two minutes ago, she might’ve sprung into a jump kick and taken them out, but luckily, she’d grounded herself already. She would’ve regretted kicking her sister in the face. 

“Alex!” she shrieked, “You scared me!” 

She wanted to throw something at Alex. Still lucky for her, nothing was handy. Instead, she held her arms tightly at her sides.

Alex blinked up at her, but grogginess didn’t curb the smirk. 

“Sorry, sis.” 

Kara moved one hand to her chest, and swept her hair back with the other. If Alex noticed the marble dust (which she probably did, big sisters were like that), Kara hoped she wouldn’t comment.  

Alex flopped back onto the couch leisurely, a far cry from her serious business posture as praetor. 

“Had a lot of last-minute paperwork. Sat down to take off my shoes, but I guess the couch is comfier than we give it credit for…”

Kara frowned. 

“You could’ve called me back to the office. That stuff’s my job, too.”

Even though her back was to Alex when she crossed the room for the kitchenette, she knew her sister was shrugging off the extra work like it was nothing.  

“It’s _Flash_ night,” she said as if that was an adequate answer. 

Kara shook her head. 

She was over the couch, butt planted on top of Alex’s stretched out legs, and sipping from a water bottle procured from the cupboard before Alex could blink. To her credit, she didn’t spill a drop even when Alex kicked her off. Kara let Alex reclaim her legs, but scooted in even closer, taking up her space. 

“You’re the best big sister, you know that?” Kara smiled sweetly before chugging half the bottle. 

Alex rolled her eyes, head landing on Kara’s shoulder.

“I know. I’m too easy on you.”

With cheeks puffed out full of water, she offered the rest to Alex, but Alex shook her head. 

“Should get back to bed. Only a few hours before we head out.”

“Right.”

“You nervous?” Alex asked.  

Barring Winn, Alex was the only person who knew about Kara’s lingering feelings for her once fake-girlfriend. She told her everything (even the embarrassing 0.5 seconds she thought she could have a crush on Winn when Kara was just trying speed up the process of getting over Lena). 

“I’m not nervous,” she assured her, “No.”

“Sure you’re not.”  

There was no hiding from Alex. She didn’t believe Kara for a second.

Then, she yawned. She reminded Kara to turn out the lights before she headed in. Patted her head for good measure. Kara watched her go, and began flopping the water bottle back and forth in her hand, watching the remaining contents slosh as all her overthinking came back to her.  

Lena, Camp Half-Blood, Hera, Gaea… 

The _other_ prophecy.

 -

 

_Two years, two months, and two weeks ago… Supposedly._

Winn was relieved when he found them in the commons. That didn’t mean he still wasn’t annoyed with having to look in the first place, no. Winn was freaking out about tomorrow, and seeing as they were cutting practice to _cuddle on the couch_? Not cool, dudes.

He could understand _Kara,_ who was still on probation from setting the lab on fire (by accident, of course). She wasn’t allowed even near the hallway to the lab until next semester, and sneaking around was harder in broad daylight.

But Lena? Shirking off when they had a competition to crush? Of all priorities to fly out the window when the two (finally) got together, Winn wished it wasn’t the one thing he needed her for. He’s asking for _one_ thing to remain normal and sacred between the three of them. Just beat this tournament. They’d been working so hard!

Winn managed to bring himself down a peg before he approached them. He’d scared a girl, almost knocking her out with the door. He mumbled his apologies, and took a deep breath.

Kara turned to acknowledge him. She probably heard his shoes on the floor or something. She’d always been expertly aware of her surroundings (making it incredibly hard to pull pranks over on her). She wasn’t always great at reading people, though. 

Lena had more of a mind for that. Like some inhuman facial recognition software hardwired into her brain that gave her the upper hand.

(He knows the likely answer is just having to deal with enough people, being groomed to run Luthor Corp with her brother, but pretending he and his friends are actually cyborg super geniuses is actually such a long held fantasy that he can’t really shake.) 

If Lena noticed Winn approaching with tangled circuits of annoyance, she didn’t show. Her head was tucked comfortably under Kara’s chin with no sign of intending to move.

He squeezed himself in front of the couch, and when his neck bent awkwardly to stare them down, decided to sit on the coffee table instead. His eyes narrowed. His mouth formed a thin line.

_I’m upset_ his face read. 

“Hey,” Kara said then. “What’s up?”

He wanted to roll his eyes. Instead, he steepled his hands somberly and blew a slow sigh through his fingertips like the weight of the world was bearing down on him.

“Kara… Lena…” he addressed them both. Lena opened her eyes, and extricated herself from her girlfriend just enough to look like she was properly interacting with Winn.

“Everything alright, Winn?” Kara had the audacity to ask.

“I need you to do something for me,” he said, “I want you two… _to lower the casket at my funeral.”_

Lena looked to be waiting to see where Winn was going with this. Her eyebrow arched, but otherwise held an impassive face. Kara’s confusion grew concerned, almost frowning. Winn let this moment sit for a beat before finishing—

“So you both can _let me down_ one last time.”

Lena actually laughed. A loud, raucous, _I can’t breathe_ side-splitting laugh. She flew off Kara and crashed on the opposite arm of the couch, doubling over.

Kara didn’t look as amused. In fact, with Lena out of the way, Kara grabbed the couch pillow behind her, and slammed it against Winn’s side with enough force to knock him off the table. 

He landed on his elbow with Kara glaring down at him, but it was worth it.

Lena was still laughing as he pulled himself off the ground. Some onlookers were concerned enough to poke their heads up, but not enough to question why Kara Danvers was going to kill Winn Schott today. 

Yeah, it was worth it. 

“You had me worried, Winn. I thought you were dying!”  

“I _am_ dying, Kara. Tomorrow at 1PM! The Regional Finals? Remember? Or does time not pass in that lovey-dovey honey mooney land you two seem to be renting a timeshare in?”          

At least now Kara was as annoyed with him as he was with them. She held her hand out, and he let her pull him to his feet.

“Lena fell asleep,” Kara shrugged, “I didn’t wanna wake her, and then I lost track of time.”

 Winn really did roll his eyes then, “Wow, that is _super_ _nice_ of you, Kar.”

After convincing them to follow him back to the lab, they headed down the sidewalk with Winn five feet ahead of them at all times (partly to keep a look out for teachers who knew about Kara’s Lab Ban, and partly just to disassociate himself from the lesbian-ing activity going on—Because really, what was that? Cuddle-walking? Gross). 

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he still heard it.

With Kara’s arm around her, Lena was pressed into Kara the whole time. It made her steps awkward in a way she’d at any other moment be embarrassed about, but she didn’t care. She lifted her head enough to whisper into Kara’s ear, “He’s right, you know… It would’ve been more considerate if you let me make it to practice on time.”

Coming from Lena’s glossy pink lips, of course it finally made it to Kara’s ears. Winn, not looking, was still sure Kara was blushing.

He was on his way to letting the issue go. He couldn’t stay mad at his best friend and… whatever that made him and Lena (Bestie-in-laws? He’d have to come up with a cool name). They were still a team, after all. They were in it together. 

-

Kara knew she’d been forgiven when she heard a foil bag crinkling, and the strong smell of artificial cheese permeated the immediate area. The ridiculously huge bag of chips was waved under her nose. She looked up. Winn smiling behind it. She smiled back. 

They had a snack cupboard hidden behind the teacher’s desk, mainly chips, candy, and granola bars. Lena pulled out a Hershey’s, and they passed it around. First to Winn, who broke off one section. Lena went next. Kara was last. Lena played with the final section in her hand, and Winn turned a blind eye to when she and Kara shared a look (Lena caved to Kara’s pout, and surrendered the final bit of chocolate).

 Winn used the brief goo-goo eyes to pilfer the Cheetos bag back from under Kara, who turned back way more offended than she had any right to be.

“Hey!” Kara shouted, hands trailing too late after Winn.

“Nuh-uh. You’ve been hogging them all!” Winn argued as he shoved half his arm in the oversized family pack to grab at what remained of the chips. “I mean, I know your stomach is a steel trap…” 

Every other word out of Winn’s mouth was obscured between chip crunching and lip smacking.

“What I don’t get is how are you still draining our snack supplies” – He began to shake the bag over his mouth for the rest of the Cheetos crumbs, “When you haven’t been in for _weeks_?”  

Winn sloppily wiped his mouth with his hand and glanced up at the two of them, immediately wishing he hadn’t. He wished Kara could just jump in and say, _I’ve been sneaking in. Completely alone. All by myself._  

But Lena’s eyes couldn’t meet his. She didn’t have a witty retort to come to the aid of her girlfriend. She started rubbing the back of her neck. Kara started blushing. Not about the steel stomach joke, either. Winn knows that look. Eyes wide. Posture stiffening. Guilty pout.

_“Ewww!”_

He stood from his seat, and stormed over to the sink with the same chagrin as earlier that afternoon. He couldn’t believe these two. 

“Guys, this place is _sacred_ ground!”

“We don’t do anything! We just sneak in so Lena can run sims, and I… I troubleshoot!”

Although Winn is fully aware of his best friend’s capability (even though she’s stronger in bio and chem, she’s no slouch in their IT class), he’s absolutely sure _troubleshooting_ was not what Kara was present for when she and Lena spend late nights in the lab (it has to be late, Winn’s there almost all day—even when the teachers have left the building). 

“You never _troubleshoot_ at my workstation, do you?” Winn’s face was scrunched in horror. 

-

His brother had the decency to try and wake him before hammering away at his latest project. Winn just wasn’t a morning person, not when he might’ve pulled a 72-hour day since the last time he’d slept. He flopped right back on his cot, asleep before his head hit the pillow. And thrown from sleep before the last _clang!_ echoed through the Cabin 9 forge.

“Gah-aahhh,” he leapt into the air as the ringing screamed in his ears. The clanging didn’t relent. It picked up steadily. The world’s worst alarm clock. Winn could only see by the light of the glowing forge in the other corner of the room, and rendered metal that looked like the beginnings of a sword glowed against his brother’s face.

“Morning,” he grunted before swinging the hammer down again, sending sparks flying into the air. Another clang. And another.

 “Did you have breakfast?” Winn asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Bringing his finger to his forehead as if to sooth the sounds away from his head.

 “Yeah.”

Hephaestus kids weren’t much for small talk to begin with, but this particular brother was kind of reserved, and Winn respected that.  

“Cool. Maybe I’ll catch you at lunch,” Winn said. 

And that was it for their goodbyes. Winn put on a spare change of clothes, and headed out to the dining pavilion. There was barely light even outside, but he knew the way back by heart and walked through the forested area without fear. He could walk the trail blindfolded. Soon enough, he was passing by the familiar Omega Ω loop of cabins in the clearing. 

There were a few campers up and at the day already, notably Apollo kids. Every last one of them seemed to be morning people. Bright, chipper, _sunlight_ people. A group of them were doing yoga on their patio. 

They reminded him of Kara. Despite her obvious relation to the big bad lighting man (Winn couldn’t be shot down for just thinking it… he’s pretty sure), Kara was like the embodiment of sunshine. 

And as if summoned just by the thought of Kara, the last member of their ill-fated trio — mind plague of the Daughter of Jupiter — was just heading out of her own cabin as Winn came around. 

“Lena!” he called, waving. 

She turned around, scanning the lawn, and smiled when she saw him, raising her own hand in return.

Her hair was pinned back into a ponytail that was especially pristine besides Winn’s literally ‘rolled out of bed’ hair. He’s also sure he has sleep lines across his cheek, but he didn’t necessarily care. He wasn’t looking to impress anyone, not today. 

Lena also had her makeup done. Winn could only tell by the presence of the dark lipstick she started wearing last year. He knew her a little better than to believe she was a morning person like the Apollo kids (or Kara), she was just better at hiding it, and Winn had to hand it to her on that note.

“Morning,” he greeted.

“Good Morning, Winn,” she greeted back.

If his brother was _reserved_ , Winn would say Lena was _guarded_. But she did give him the time of day. She usually regarded him (a privilege in itself) warmly when they’re within amicable proximity.

He’d even go as far to say they were friendly. Like if they had to pick individual teams for Capture the Flag, he could trust Lena to not pick him last (although he still probably wouldn’t be in her top 5, she was kind enough but still very, very smart). 

Winn reflected back on the memory from The Lost Time when the two of them won that robotics regional finals together. He kept a picture of him and Lena arm-in-arm in his dorm next to the trophy. Of course, neither the picture nor the trophy actually existed outside their heads. That was all part of the illusion. The whole thing.

Their take-down of Stheno the gorgon on their first mission together was very real, though, and if there had been any photographic proof of their victory together, Winn would keep it pinned over his bunk in the Hephaestus cabin. He’d like to think Lena would keep it too, but even in The Lost Time, he never saw Lena’s fake dorm. 

They both took a couple of steps in the same direction. Realizing this, Winn decided to ask the obvious.

“Heading to breakfast?”

“That I am.”

“Great. We can head there together,” Winn shrugged.

“Sounds good,” Lena nodded. 

They fell into step. Quiet steps. Winn knew exactly what he wanted to say: _Hey so, Kara’s coming back! She’s dying to see you. I think you two should catch up._ But there was a right and a wrong way to broach it, and that would definitely be categorized under the latter.

“So how you been?” he said instead. “Day 10, back at it again… Camping. Counseling.”

Lena looked at him. Genius as he may be, Winn wasn’t savvy enough to decipher it. Lena wasn’t a gadget he could tinker with, wasn’t a riddle to solve. People are harder than — say — robots.

“I’ve been well,” Lena answered, “My siblings have Capture the Flag tomorrow…”

“Hmm,” Winn nodded, listening. 

“It’s against the Hermes Cabin. After what happened with Izzy, we’re treating it as something of a _retribution_.”

Winn gulped. Lena was still smiling pleasantly, but the ice behind her words was a promise, swift and without nonsense. Message clear: You don’t cross Aphrodite children. 

Love can be wrathful. 

“Ahh yeah. Good, uh, good luck with _that_ ,” Winn laughed nervously.

Winn suddenly felt like this was not the time to bring up Kara’s visit. Like at all. He didn’t suppose there was any reason Kara should be on Lena’s blacklist (at least, not through anything that’s actually Kara’s fault — and Lena was about nothing if not being _just_ ), but their past was… complicated. Which made every move forward delicate if it were going to work out well for his friend.

“And you, Winn?” 

“Me? Wha-aat about me?”

Lena’s look was definitely concern now. Without a shadow of a doubt.

“How have you been?" 

“Oh. I’ve been great.”

There was still a bit of a walk before they get to breakfast, and Winn had already decided to shut up when Lena asked another question.

“How goes our _happy_ friend?”

Happy friend? It took another moment for the gears in Winn’s head to turn (because Kara’s his friend, and current 5’6” problem staring him in the face notwithstanding, generally happiest person he knows). But Lena’s not talking about her. Not with that look of conspiracy. 

“Our friend?” 

“The _happy_ one, yes.”

 “Ohh, oh. Our happy friend… Capital-H. Happy! Our Happy friend!”

 Winn’s entire face quirked up, disregarding that the charade was quickly dissolving into a less pleasant euphemism because at least _this_ he knew.

Festus the Dragon aka Happy the Dragon aka surprise friend along for the ride on their first and last quest (well he technically _was_ the ride, but semantics). 

With that change of subject, Winn filled her in on his progress, and although he couldn’t get into every last change he was making on Festus, he and Lena were blazing through new layers of the project that Winn was either running into problems with or hadn’t even thought of yet. And she didn’t question who _Buford_ was, which was probably for the best because you don’t keep a secret hideaway workshop a secret by blabbing about it in broad daylight. He could tell her later.

“I’m glad he’ll be alright after everything.”

By then, they had just climbed the steps of the dining pavilion, where their fellow campers were already buzzing around chattering, eating at their respective tables.  

Winn and Lena fully intended on parting ways without fuss, but both found themselves turning to face each other on the last step, speaking over each other.

“I—” 

“Hey—” 

They both noticed at the same time, too.

Lena shook her head.

Winn laughed.

“You first,” Lena motioned with her hand.

“No, what do you want to say?” Winn insisted, finding himself finger-gunning with both hands.

The girl conceded. 

“I’d like to see your friend again, if you don’t mind,” she said breezily.

“Yeah, I’ll take you to see him sometime. Possibly soon. Really soon…” 

He’d promised Kara she’d get to see him, too, and he was really excited to show off his new mods.  

“Great!” Lena clapped her hands together, “So what were you about to say?” 

“Me?” Winn asked.

Lena looked squarely at him, like she could read that he was hiding something (she definitely, definitely could) but for _gods only know_ what reason. “Are you feeling alright, Winn?”

“Great, Lena. Totally great. I was gonna say— Good luck! Again. On the Capture the Flag,” Winn shrugged. So he wasn’t on the short list for Wing-Man of the Year. He’d make it up later. 

“Hermes Cabin is kinda formidable these days…” 

It seemed like an even more useless sentiment when he said it. 

He took one look at the green of her eyes and knew there was no chance in Hades that Cabin 11 wasn’t already doomed by accepting. To Lena Luthor, to know how to play the game was to know how to win the game. She was 120% solid strategy. Lena Luthor didn’t need luck. 

“I assure you Aphrodite campers are no push over, but thank you.” 

With a wave over her shoulder, she proceeded over to the table with her siblings. Winn did the same with his, blowing a sigh and deciding to put this all out of his mind for now.

“Hey guys,” he greeted his sister and other younger brothers. Each nodded and muttered _good morning_ between bites of fresh fruit, and barbecued meat.

His youngest brother, a tiny kid who deceptively didn’t look big enough to lift a hammer let alone swing one, looked up at Winn with excitable eyes and whispered almost reverently, “I heard Lena Luthor’s going to kick Mike Mon-El’s ass tomorrow!” 

Winn might have laughed at the enthusiasm, but the conviction (the fact) was no less true. He started plucking grapes from the bowl in the middle, throwing them on his plate. 

“You’re not tall enough to say _ass_ , my man.”

Harley punched him in the arm, and Winn was considered himself lucky there _wasn’t_ a hammer around.  

“Show some respect, kid, _gods_ …”

-

It was as if their argument never happened. Lena sat with her sisters (the stereotype that girls take longer to get ready than boys had clearly never known a Son of Aphrodite), and they seemed to be taking her orders in stride. If the fact there was no hysteria on crazy Aphrodite bitches coming after (fuckboy) campers was anything to go on. 

Veronica in particular was notably seeing things in a different light this morning.

“So, you may have been right,” she admits in a prolonged and airy sigh that so obviously _pains_ her so. “Destroying him at his own game will be more satisfying than just… destroying him." 

“Although it would be _faster_. I can’t stand those brats and their delusions that they stand a chance against us,” Drew sneered tightly, but remained the picture of serenity for the show that was breakfast.

“Every child of Hermes with a right head on their shoulders has steered clear of our cabin,” Lena said, picking out a slice of fresh bread from the basket in front of Drew. The younger slid the rest of the food closer, intent on showing she was playing nice, she swears (small strides), “And those foolish enough to persist have been dually noted. I have Jess on that task. You need not worry until it’s showtime.” 

“I just want to see that Daxamite get what he has coming,” Veronica’s nostrils flared. She didn’t take kindly to when Drew hushed at her to _relax, relax._ “Why do you still think you can Charmspeak me, darling?”

“That wasn’t Charmspeak!” 

“You’re not a good liar, either.” 

Lena rubbed the back of her neck before settling a look on the two of them that swathed the table in the reminder that she was Head Counselor for a reason.

“Don’t let the competition addle you. What are we? Twelve?”

Veronica huffed, but with a quick hand through her hair, she regained her composure.

“You forget _why_ we’re doing this. Izzy, and the rest of the youngers will need something _good_ to look up to us for. We’ll do our best to set an example.”

“You’re right, Lena.”

“Yeah,” Drew echoed, “Sorry.”

 Lena watched as they took a minute of silence. Drew busied herself trying to find the best-looking grapes, and Veronica went back to slicing her barbecued meat already on her plate. She wondered if they noticed how quickly brilliant they got on when they weren’t bickering as they fell into pleasant talk about other goings-on around the camp, all conspiring smiles.

 She knew very well neither noticed they’d been charmspoken. Lena was particularly good these days that even her sisters didn’t realize.

Lena tipped her head into her hand for a moment, dragging her finger from her forehead and down the slope of her face. Breathe in. Breathe out.

She was tuning into what Drew and Veronica were discussing. They were the worst gossips, honestly. One would be hard-pressed to keep a secret in Camp Half-Blood with the two around. But in combination, they wove in and out too fast to keep pace sometimes. 

“Weren’t you friends with that Roman? Blonde hair, glasses… Stuffy pastel cardigans in the middle of summer,” Drew shudders just thinking about it. Lena doesn’t share the sentiment. The image coming to mind leaves her frozen.

_Kara Danvers._

Lena’s hands were quick to her service, pulling forth the cup in front of her to give herself a drink (a moment to school herself). She hadn’t been particularly specific what kind of drink she wanted, and Lena found herself curious with a sweet taste hitting her lips, wondering what the cup had conjured up on the fly.

“Kara?” Lena said breezily. As if she knew many blonde Roman demigods with a penchant for preppy fashions and puppy dog eyes, and it was hard to keep track of them all.

Drew wasn’t completely sure, but didn’t care to dwell on it either. 

“She’s a praetor?” 

“Yes.”

Lena grabbed the basket of bread again before Veronica, who looked at her with only the slightest frown. Lena arched a brow to dare her to comment.

“She’s probably coming, then…”

The basket fell out of Lena’s grasp, and she knew two sets of eyes are on her, but it felt like more. So much more. As if the whole pavilion had become spectator to _how Lena’s going to react_.

“To Camp Half-Blood?”

Drew nodded. Lena picked another slice, held it in her hands like she was studying it. Tore a piece gently with her fingertips saying, _“Ah…_ Is that so?”

**Author's Note:**

> There will be fighting in the next chapter. I haven't gotten to a point where Lena comes in for more than a memory, but hopefully by Chapter 3? I don't make promises because I really don't know.


End file.
